I have heard two different variations of the meaning of ᏣᎳᎩ: tsa-la-gi:Cherokee- 1.)people of the cave and mountain 2.)the redskin people. Aside from being one of, if not the largest Native American tribe(s) in the United States. The Cherokee are also known as one of the five civilized tribes. 20,000 Cherokee's were forcefully moved on the trail of tears 4,000 of which didn't make it from the southeast. Now there are three federally recognized bands 1.Cherokee nation-Oklahoma 2. United (ga-du-wa)Keetoowah band of Cherokee-Oklahoma 3. Eastern band of Cherokee-North Carolina. There are 7 clans of the Cherokee tribe:1.)a-ni-gi-lo-hi:The Long Hair Clan 2.)a-ni-sa-ho-ni:The Blue Clan 4.)a-ni-go-te-ge-wi:The Wild Potato Clan 5.)a-ni-a-wi: the Deer Clan 6.)a-ni-tsi-s-qua:the Bird Clan 7.)a-ni-wo-di:the Paint Clan
Our culture is still very much alive. we still powwow, stompdance, play stickball, and sweat lodge. there are 6 Cherokee ceremonial grounds here in ok 1 Cherokee ground in nc. we have endured and overcome a tremendous amount. we are a proud people.

The Urban Dictionary Mug

Currently the largest tribe in the steadily-growing race known as Native American Indians. The Natives are, fortunately, making a comeback, and NOT just with casinos, dammit!
With well over 700,000 mixed- and full-blooded members, the Cherokee nation is the largest tribe in the entire United States. The "motherland" that the tribe inhabited, of which many still do, is known as the Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee and very western North Carolina. The white settlers and slaveowners pushed a great number of my people off their lands, of which many of us thoroughly and bitterly resent them. It was those people who made this region the South, with their new countrified, Southeast-style culture and political opinions. They also believed that the Cherokees were nothing but savages and heathens, VERY BIG misconception. Thanks to most of those people who took over the lands, now we have a mixture of lightly-educated hicks, and a bunch of arrogant, and usually racist, rednecks. What a GREAT EXCHANGE!
We have managed to hold out, however. Many of the ancestors held out in different hiding places in the mountains, and a lot of them survived the Trail of Tears. It is true that many Cherokees served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, but it is a decision that most of them made out of fear of the Southerners. Many of them, however, ended up serving in the Union Indian Brigade, which fought out in the Trans-Mississippi Theatre, coming from Oklahoma and Kansas, were most of the Natives had been exiled to from their eastern homelands. The Cherokee are a strong people, they served the nation and the settlers even as their own rights and lands were gradually being taken from them, and they deserve a lot of respect, and even tribute, in return.

The Urban Dictionary Mug

One of the most well known tribes within the Native American relm. The Cherokee Nation and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians have headquarters in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is located at Cherokee, North Carolina. All three are federally recognized.

There are two ways in which people misuse or become misinformed about the Cherokee people.

1)Cherokee is often the tribe people claim to be when they really have no idea what type of Native American they have in them, if any at all.

2) When a black person (mainly female) says that they have Cherokee in them just because their hair is softer or straighter than most.

1) Oh you're an Indian?! OMG my grandma was a Cherokee princess! I'm 1/8th Cherokee but I have no idea what band she came from!

2) You're just jealous because she's got that good Indian hair. She's part Cherokee. Her grandma was probably a princess or something.